The lawyer representing the plaintiffs advised Euronews that TikTok’s “addictive” design and restricted content material moderation is dangerous to younger individuals.
Seven French households are taking TikTok to court docket, accusing the social community of “direct harm” to younger individuals’s well being that led to 2 of them taking their very own lives on the age of 15, their lawyer stated.
Laure Boutron-Marmion, a lawyer representing the Algos Victima collective of households, filed a lawsuit earlier than a decide.
“I am leveraging the important rules of French civil legal responsibility,” she advised Euronews Subsequent including that for “any fault dedicated by one other individual in regulation, you must make amends”.
The mix of the “addictive” design of the applying with the dearth of content material moderation “makes for a really problematic product,” Boutron-Marmion stated.
“Virality mixes with dangerous content material,” she added.
TikTok stated mother and father might management and restrict their youngsters’ use of the applying by ‘Household Connection’ mode in 2020 and highlighted that there are greater than 630 French-speaking moderators of the platform.
“When individuals perform a search that features phrases comparable to suicide, they’re instantly redirected to a web page with devoted sources, in addition to a quantity for an area helpline or prevention hotline,” TikTok advised Euronews Subsequent in an electronic mail.
The state of well being of youngsters
Boutron-Marmion additionally underlined the vulnerability of youngsters and youngsters who will be confronted with content material selling self-harm or suicide for instance.
Stéphanie Mistre, the mom of one of many youngsters who took their life, advised French media that her “daughter might nonetheless be right here at present” if it weren’t for the applying.
Mistre filed a criticism in September 2023, for ‘incitement to suicide’, ‘failure to help an individual at risk’, and ‘propaganda or promoting of technique of committing suicide’ that’s nonetheless being instructed in line with the French media.
“The deterioration within the state of well being of the youngsters could be very, very severe. These are kids who’ve both come near dying or are not right here,” Boutron-Marmion stated.
She identified that the model of the applying deployed in China, Douyin, has safeguards in place for minors’ accounts, comparable to a each day time restrict or a digital curfew.
Authorized motion in opposition to social media platforms
“TikTok very instantly at present goes to be introduced earlier than the French court docket and should reply with arguments. After that, in fact, it is as much as the judges to settle,” she stated.
Final month, greater than a dozen US states sued TikTok for allegedly harming younger individuals’s psychological well being.
Bytedance’s utility isn’t the one one below fireplace, Meta – the mum or dad firm of Fb, Instagram and Snapchathas been focused by authorized motion concerning the platforms’ potential impression on their younger customers.